[reactjs] Can you force a React component to rerender without calling setState?

use hooks or HOC take your pick

Using hooks or the HOC (higher order component) pattern, you can have automatic updates when your stores change. This is a very light-weight approach without a framework.

useStore Hooks way to handle store updates

interface ISimpleStore {
  on: (ev: string, fn: () => void) => void;
  off: (ev: string, fn: () => void) => void;
}

export default function useStore<T extends ISimpleStore>(store: T) {
  const [storeState, setStoreState] = useState({store});
  useEffect(() => {
    const onChange = () => {
      setStoreState({store});
    }
    store.on('change', onChange);
    return () => {
      store.off('change', onChange);
    }
  }, []);
  return storeState.store;
}

withStores HOC handle store updates

export default function (...stores: SimpleStore[]) {
  return function (WrappedComponent: React.ComponentType<any>) {
    return class WithStore extends PureComponent<{}, {lastUpdated: number}> {
      constructor(props: React.ComponentProps<any>) {
        super(props);
        this.state = {
          lastUpdated: Date.now(),
        };
        this.stores = stores;
      }

      private stores?: SimpleStore[];

      private onChange = () => {
        this.setState({lastUpdated: Date.now()});
      };

      componentDidMount = () => {
        this.stores &&
          this.stores.forEach((store) => {
            // each store has a common change event to subscribe to
            store.on('change', this.onChange);
          });
      };

      componentWillUnmount = () => {
        this.stores &&
          this.stores.forEach((store) => {
            store.off('change', this.onChange);
          });
      };

      render() {
        return (
          <WrappedComponent
            lastUpdated={this.state.lastUpdated}
            {...this.props}
          />
        );
      }
    };
  };
}

SimpleStore class

import AsyncStorage from '@react-native-community/async-storage';
import ee, {Emitter} from 'event-emitter';

interface SimpleStoreArgs {
  key?: string;
  defaultState?: {[key: string]: any};
}

export default class SimpleStore {
  constructor({key, defaultState}: SimpleStoreArgs) {
    if (key) {
      this.key = key;
      // hydrate here if you want w/ localState or AsyncStorage
    }
    if (defaultState) {
      this._state = {...defaultState, loaded: false};
    } else {
      this._state = {loaded: true};
    }
  }
  protected key: string = '';
  protected _state: {[key: string]: any} = {};
  protected eventEmitter: Emitter = ee({});
  public setState(newState: {[key: string]: any}) {
    this._state = {...this._state, ...newState};
    this.eventEmitter.emit('change');
    if (this.key) {
      // store on client w/ localState or AsyncStorage
    }
  }
  public get state() {
    return this._state;
  }
  public on(ev: string, fn:() => void) {
    this.eventEmitter.on(ev, fn);
  }
  public off(ev: string, fn:() => void) {
    this.eventEmitter.off(ev, fn);
  }
  public get loaded(): boolean {
    return !!this._state.loaded;
  }
}

How to Use

In the case of hooks:

// use inside function like so
const someState = useStore(myStore);
someState.myProp = 'something';

In the case of HOC:

// inside your code get/set your store and stuff just updates
const val = myStore.myProp;
myOtherStore.myProp = 'something';

// return your wrapped component like so
export default withStores(myStore)(MyComponent);

MAKE SURE To export your stores as a singleton to get the benefit of global change like so:

class MyStore extends SimpleStore {
  public get someProp() {
    return this._state.someProp || '';
  }
  public set someProp(value: string) {
    this.setState({...this._state, someProp: value});
  }
}
// this is a singleton
const myStore = new MyStore();
export {myStore};

This approach is pretty simple and works for me. I also work in large teams and use Redux and MobX and find those to be good as well but just a lot of boilerplate. I just personally like my own approach because I always hated a lot of code for something that can be simple when you need it to be.